The applicant has previously proposed the use of a pagewidth printhead to provide photographic quality printing. However, manufacturing such a pagewidth printhead having the required dimensions is problematic in the sense that, if any nozzle of the printhead is defective, the entire printhead needs to be scrapped and replaced.
Accordingly, the applicant has proposed the use of a pagewidth printhead made up of a plurality of small, replaceable printhead modules which are arranged in end-to-end relationship. The advantage of this arrangement is the ability to remove and replace any defective module in a pagewidth printhead without having to scrap the entire printhead.
It is also necessary to accommodate thermal expansion of the individual modules in the assembly constituting the pagewidth printhead to ensure that adjacent modules maintain their required alignment with each other.